Trending

First Look at 'Killing Lincoln' With Tom Hanks

By Jackie Willis 10:15 AM PST, January 4, 2013

National Geographic Channel

The story of President Abraham Lincoln is garnering lots of attention this year, with not only Daniel Day-Lewis expected to earn an Oscar nod for his role as the Commander-In-Chief on the big screen, but an in-depth National Geographic story about the murder of Lincoln, narrated by Tom Hanks, is also coming to TV.

Killing Lincoln, based on Fox News host Bill O’Reilly’s bestselling book of the same name, takes viewers back to the beloved president's (Billy Campbell) finals days and John Wilkes Booth's (Jesse Johnson) plot to kill him. Campbell said of playing the 16th president, "Lincoln is so adored, so universally revered today that it's easy to forget he was a controversial president — one with many enemies — in fact he repeatedly dreamt of his own assassination."

Hanks refers to the real-life event as "the most resonant crime in the history of the nation."

The project not only boasts O'Reilly and Hanks, but it was also produced by Ridley and the late Tony Scott and is directed by Adrian Moat (Gettysburg). "This is really the Lincoln story you've never seen before," Ridley Scott says of Killing Lincoln.

This will mark the first scripted show for National Geographic, and will begin airing Feb. 2013.